This Week In Techdirt History: May 22nd – 28th
from the as-it-ever-was dept
Five Years Ago
This week in 2017, the FCC was still working hard to ignore support for net neutrality and also ignore how fake much of the opposition was, while Apple and Verizon were joining forces to lobby against the right to repair. We learned more about how little it takes to be branded a threat to the FBI, and how ICE was using Stingrays to track down immigrants, while the DOJ was expressing an interest in prosecuting leakers and whistleblowers. This was also the week that the Supreme Court dealt a blow to East Texas by shutting the door on patent jurisdiction shopping.
Ten Years Ago
This week in 2012, the Supreme Court allowed the Tenenbaum charade to continue by refusing to hear the case, and also ordered a reconsideration of “on the internet” software patents. The judge in the Grooveshark lawsuit ordered Digital Music News to preserve logs that had already been deleted, and an appeals court in Russia said the social network vKontakte was liable for file sharing by users. But the biggest ruling came in the Google/Oracle patent case, with a jury saying there was no patent infrongement by Google.
Fifteen Years Ago
This week in 2007, Facebook was trying to position itself as an open platform for others to build on. The spam wars were tapering off but not because of victory against spam, rather because people were coming to terms with it. Japan was looking into compulsory licenses for putting TV content online, while CNN was giving up on its ill-fated online video service. And the EFF succeeded in putting an end to the spate of DMCA takedowns against videos of people dancing the Electric Slide.
Comments on “This Week In Techdirt History: May 22nd – 28th”
Electric Slide dance's copyrightability
Aren’t short dances like the Twist, Watusi, Batusi, Macarena, etc. not copyrightable? If it were then Epic wouldn’t be able to sell them on Fortnite.
So DMCA-ing people doing the electric slide is an instance of copyfraud (Thank you Jason Mazzone!).
i don’t think that ICE was suing Stingrays, but it would have been funny and consistent with the level of intelligence in that department, if contrary to its general disposition.
Thanks again for the weekend roundup, i always appreciate it.
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whoops! fixed, thanks
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Wow your piture is sure ugly. Is it new? Get a haircut?
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Asshole in the internet challenge accepted. Apparently.
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Bitch please, you look like you got hit in the face with a shovel.
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Years ago, Techdirt wrote some interesting articles. Then, the weird posters with fake names started forcing their weird views on everyone else and chasing off legitimate commentors with legitimate questions. Now, it’s just shit, seemingly feeled with adolecesent idiots with nothing to say that anyone in America cares about. Maybe China cares, or Russia, or the Tech billions who finance such horseshit. No one else.
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How’s the Shiva Ayyadurai fund coming along, Hamilton?
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That was you, was it?
Re: And here you are
At least the scammers are trying to do something with theirs lives.
Most Software Patents Are Stupid
The typical software patent is written in a way that cannot be valid.
Here is my recommendation for software invention claiming: Patent Eligibility.
Senator Tillis told me he considered the analysis useful, but most patent practitioners did not understand it — the form of the Cassandra Complex from which I suffer.
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Never heard Dunning-Kruger referred to in that manner.
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The Thomas Tillis with a fine reputation around here for totally understanding the internet and IP?
https://www.techdirt.com/tag/thom-tillis/
That Thomas Tillis? Not the ringing endorsement that you believe.
Re: Re: I Only Dealt with Tillis on Questions of the Patent System
The patent system long pre-dates the Internet, and Internet-related patent application examination is only a small part of the work the USPTO does.
Tillis is a legislator and a quick study. He picked up on early modern epistemology and Kantian philosophy more rapidly than most.
Here is a document that I prepared for him and that was one of many: Preface — Fixing § 101 Requires Fixing § 100.
Do you understand the document? Tillis did.
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Whatever you believe of Tillis’ affinity for philosophy means very little as far as his approach to intellectual property law is concerned. It’s very clear that his interests lie in kissing the footprints of Hollywood and following every demand of theirs like a cuckolded husband at any cost.
Re: Re: Re:2 Tillis and Coons Made a Genuine Bipartisan Effort to Fix Patent System
I think you may be referring to other areas of intellectual property law. Hollywood has generally had little interest in patent law beyond design patents.
Biden seems to have given up on fixing patent-eligibility law statutorily, and the Solicitor General has asked SCOTUS to grant this petition for writ of certiorari.
I don’t believe SCOTUS has ever refused such a request from the SG.
Whoa, now the spammers/scammers are copypasting the trolls.
It’s trollception all the way down.